Scholarships

College is expensive! It is an investment in your future and finding financial options to help make it realistic to be able to afford to attend such as with additional scholarships is important. I know it can be a time consuming process, but it is worth it.

Most scholarship money does end up coming directly from your colleges, but there are so many other places to look for scholarships and you should consider all of the options to try to help make your college experience even a little more affordable! For example, do your parent's employers (or if you work, your employer) offer scholarships for dependent children? What about your place of worship? If you volunteer for an organization, do they offer scholarships for their student volunteers? There are also countless scholarship search websites where you can complete personalized searches for other qualities and characteristics that would be ideal for you. If you want to see some of these sites, please check out financial aid section (under colleges) on the WKHS Counselors website.

Staying Organized

I admit it... I am a list maker. I have lists for just about everything you could imagine. I created a list of things I *MUST* accomplish before the end of the day, not to mention the list I already have at school of the "other" things I need to do. I also have a list of things to do at home, a list of "to do's" for next week, lists for other upcoming school related projects, a list of summer projects (yes, already) and even a list for "when I have time." So, sadly, I guess I could probably benefit from having a list of all of my lists. :-)

The reason I am mentioning it, is that lists work for me, but everyone needs some sort of a system to help keep your thoughts or your massive "to do piles" organized. It is much more difficult and demanding to try to hold something in your head than it is to refer back to it on paper. I heard once that your head is a good place to have and process ideas not to hold ideas and I believe that makes sense. It doesn't require a lot of time, but the payoffs are large as long as you stick with it. Personally, I love being able to cross something off my list knowing that I had achieved a goal - no matter how small.

Please work on staying focused and organized. What do you need to do to make sure that you will be able to end this quarter successfully? Remember, you only have 8 more days of classes this quarter. If lists are not your way to stay organized, that is OK, but find a system that works and use it.

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Eating disorders are such a challenge for those who live with them because eating is essential and integrated into every single day of a person's life. This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness week. According to the National Eating Disorder Association 30 million Americans experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives. The emotional and physical toll that eating disorders have on those struggling with them as well as their family members and friends is significant. If you or someone you know is dealing with an eating disorder it is important to get help and to know that every BODY belongs. Resources are available and it will be worth it. For those of you who have pushed through the worst of your fight with your eating disorders, know that you are seen and valued and you serve as hope for those who are just entering their own eating disorder battle. And to all of you, remember that we are here if you need to talk about any concerns related to your eating concerns (or the concerns you have for your friends.)

The Scheduling Process

One of the most confusing aspects to students when you are picking your classes is the desire to know where the classes will fall in the school day. And unfortunately, that is not an easy answer. So I thought it might help if I explained how the registration process, which is what we are currently wrapping up will eventually become the schedule for your classes for next year.

The expectation is that by the end of this week all of the counselors will have met with all of our 9th, 10th and 11th grade students to review your course requests for next year. And as soon as we complete those meetings it means our phase of the registration process is officially *DONE* and we will be so happy to have it completed.

But the process is still FAR from over...

Once all of the course requests are finalized we officially hand it over to the administration as the "final" registration requests. **This is your reminder that if you are applying for CC+ classes and want your CC+ courses included in your requests for the administrators to use when building the schedule, you need to get your forms turned into us by Friday of this week!** (But technically you do have until April 1st to submit the forms for the state's deadline.)

The administration (principal and assistant principals) will look at the numbers for all of the courses selected to determine what, if any, courses do not have enough students signed up to be able to offer the class. After they figure this out they will provide that information back to the counselors with a list of students impacted and we will then work with those students and their alternates list to find a suitable replacement course.

The administrators will also begin working to determine the total number of sections will be needed for each class (for example how many English 1 courses) to meet the demand. They will then work with computer services to create a schedule that will create the smallest number of conflicts possible. This is a MUCH bigger challenge than most people would imagine. For example, if a class like AP Computer Science is only offered 1 time in the day, then they have to figure out what students want to take that class and try to make sure that the time of day selected to offer the course will not conflict with any other classes - especially any other classes that are only offered once in a day (like Band, Choir, or AP Foreign Languages).

Eventually they will create a schedule and "lock" it in place. When that happens (hopefully this spring before school is out) they will then come back to the counselors with a list of all of the kids with conflicts in their schedules. In some cases, we are able to make minor adjustments to move a few classes around and make the schedule work. In other instances, we will have to work with the student to make tough decisions about what classes they do or do not want to take and use the alternates to find other courses that would work and still meet requirements toward graduation.

And that's it - we will ultimately get the schedule set just how we want it and hopefully all of you will pass all of your classes 2nd semester so that we don't have to go back and add anything into your schedule or change classes that you no longer meet the pre-requisites for, but all of those types of changes will happen after the final grades are submitted at the end of May.

Hopefully that helps you understand what is going on with the scheduling and registration process and why it will take so long.

Chicago: Teen Edition

This year's musical is Chicago: Teen Edition and the students and staff involved have been working SO unbelievably hard to prepare for the show! There will be 3 performances of the show - Friday night at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2:00pm and Saturday night at 7:30pm. You will not want to miss out on the chance to see the incredible talent and dedication of our WKHS students in action. Tickets cost $12 and you can register on the Worthington Hometown Ticketing website.

There are over 100 students involved in this production including those who will be featured on stage, those helping behind the scenes to organize the show and manage the effects such as light and sound, and, of course, the musicians who will be performing in the pit orchestra. No matter their role I know they have all been working tirelessly to bring this show to life.

I know many students were able to watch the teaser part of the show's opening today during 8th period and, like me, are excited to see the whole show.  Good luck to everyone involved - you will do great!

Conversations About College

Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own lives that we forget not everyone is in the same situation or feels the same way we do. How we talk about colleges is like everything else in life and we need to approach it with sensitivity and kindness.

What do I mean?

As college admissions decisions arrive, students will sometimes start announcing where they were accepted and their feelings on different schools, forgetting that other students are around. Being accepted is wonderful news and it is completely understandable that you want to shout it from the roof-tops when you have been accepted to a school, but it is also important to be sensitive to those around you and to remember that some of your friends and classmates are NOT being accepted into those very same colleges. 

Receiving a college rejection letter is hard enough, but it is even more hurtful to hear someone else proclaim, "Oh, I was accepted to ___ (insert name of college) but I would never actually go there." Particularly if the school mentioned was the one where a student was recently rejected and had been their top choice college. 

This also plays out when people are talking about colleges where they intend to apply.  Students or parents saying things such as "I would never apply to _____."  This is hard because that college is most definitely someone else's favorite school.

Please understand, in no way am I trying to dampen your excitement, but I just want to encourage you to please try to be respectful and aware in what you say about schools and how you "rate" colleges. Remember, no one school is perfect for every student and every student is not right for every college- it is important to find the right fit and I sincerely believe that every student WILL be able to find the college that is right for them!

AP Test Registration Reminder

Just a quick reminder that the late registration deadline to sign up to take an AP Test this spring is coming up this Friday, February 20th. So for those students who weren't prepared to make the decision on if you wanted to take an AP Test in the spring before the deadline back in the fall can reassess how you are doing in the classes you are taking and if you want to take the AP Test.  Remember, the AP tests are a required step in order to try to be granted college credit for your AP classes. Each college sets their own policy on what classes they will grant credit for and what scores you must earn to receive that credit.  You can search for the policy on the colleges you are considering on the College Board Website.  Registering for an AP Exam now costs $140 ($100 for the test and $40 for the late fee) and you will complete the registration process on the My Payments Plus system.